Embarrassing. Disturbing. Frightening: Arunabh Gosh, a historian at Harvard University
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The syllabus on counter-terrorism for engineering students enrolled under dual degree programme at Jawaharlal Nehru University, a premier institute of higher learning in the country known for its academic excellence, says that “Jihadi terrorism” is the only form of “fundamentalist-religious terrorism” and Communist regimes in the erstwhile Soviet Union and China were the “predominant state-sponsors of terrorism” that influenced “radical Islamic states”.
This has sparked a controversy with many expressing outrage on the assertion that link terrorism to Islam at a time when the country is seeing an organised and systematic violence by Hindu nationalists against Muslims.
According to The Indian Express, the “Counter-Terrorism, Asymmetric Conflicts and Strategies for Cooperation among Major Powers”, which is optional, was given a green signal during a meeting on August 17 of the university’s Academic Council allegedly without any consultation with the varsity’s teacher’s association.
The classes for the course are likely to start in late September for students seeking to study international relations after B-Tech.
The clearance from the Academic Council, the highest decision-making body on academic affairs of the institution, has to get a go ahead from the Executive Council, an administrative body.
“Jihadi terrorism” as the only “fundamentalist-religious terrorism” is mentioned in one of the modules titled ‘Fundamentalist-religious Terrorism and its Impact’.
“Fundamentalist–religious inspired terrorism has played a very critical and dominant role in the spawning of terrorist violence in the beginning of the 21st century. The perverse interpretation of the Quran has resulted in the rapid proliferation of a jihadi cultist violence that glorifies death by terror in suicidal and homicidal variants,” says Indian Express report.
“The exploitation of the cyberspace by the radical Islamic religious clerics has resulted in the electronic propagation of jihadi terrorism world over. Online electronic dissemination of Jihadi terrorism has resulted in the spurt of violence in non-Islamic societies that are secular and are now increasingly vulnerable to the violence that (is) on the increase.”
Additionally, the course says, erstwhile Soviet Union and China are the only states that “sponsored terrorism”.
“Terrorism has always a geographical base and support havens for its operations. State-sponsored terrorism has been largely during the ideological war between the West and the Soviet Union and China. The Soviet Union and China have been predominant state-sponsors of terrorism and they have been heavily involved in terms of their intelligence agencies training, aiding and providing logistical support to Communist ultras and terrorists,” Indian Express further quotes from the module.
“In the post-Cold War period, the trend has been well adapted by several radical Islamic states that have mirrored the earlier tactical strategies of the Communist powers and have continued to aid and arm the various terrorist groups.”
Aswini Mohapatra, Dean of JNU’s School of International Studies (SIS) has said he was not involved in the design of the course.
Ruchir Gupta, Dean of the School of Engineering, according to Indian Express, said they were asked to pass the course so they did.
Arvind Kumar, Chairperson of the Centre for Canadian, US and Latin American Studies, is said to have introduced and designed the course. He also defended the reference of only Islam in the “fundamentalist-religious terrorism” as he told Indian Express that “because Islamic terrorism is a world-accepted thing. After the Taliban, it has gained momentum now.”
Kumar feigned ignorance when he was asked about terrorism by followers of other religions.
He also defended the reference of China and Soviet Union as “predominant state-sponsors of terrorism” saying, “state-sponsored terrorism is very difficult to define, we have to find evidence for it and only then we can include it.”
Public outrage
Arunabh Gosh, a historian at Harvard University, took to twitter to give his reaction on the new course: “Embarrassing. Disturbing. Frightening.”
Journalist Shreya Roy Chaudhary sarcastically said that the students should have been directed to “WhatsApp University” — a euphemistic reference to the use of social media platform by Hindu rightwing to spread disinformation — instead of designing a course.
Pertinently the murmurs about such a course first came to light in 2018 when Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, the then chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC), wrote a letter to the JNU asking if the university was going to introduce a course on “Islamic Terrorism”. The answer that he had received from the registrar of JNU was a definite “No”.
The DMC was prompted to write the letter following reports that a meeting of the university’s Academic Council in December 2017 where a proposed course titled “Centre for National Security Studies” with “Islamic Terrorism” as key topic was placed under discussion.
Also Read: JNU Course on ‘Jihadi Violence’: It Violates Its Assurance to Delhi Minorities Commission
